Sunday, September 13, 2009

Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin instrumental in 9/12 Protest marches

September 12th was marked by thousands of people protesting around America most prominently Washington DC in what was dubbed the "9/12 protests", an extension of the Tea Party protests earlier in the year. Whilst I've remarked many times that 08' Presidential candidate Ron Paul has been the uncredited spiritual leader of the Tea Party movement. I haven't properly highlighted the important role pundits Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck have played in mobilising the masses.

Michelle Malkin with popular websites MichelleMalkin.com and HotAir.com has a particularly grassroots and citizen-journalist aesthetic on her namesake blog despite a national profile from frequent appearances as Fox News contributor and NY Times bestselling book. Her blog frequently features photos and personal stories submitted by her readers which makes her site a good resource for such grassroots movements.

Michelle Malkin: Culture of Corruption

Glenn Beck also has a similar populist aesthetic, but in his case using the Television format. Using rhetoric like "we surround them", muckraking and a show format with frequent references to "upcoming major events and announcements" Beck has positioned himself as a crusader for the people.
Capitalizing on this movement, Glenn founded the '9/12 Project' with its 9 Principles and 12 Values. Jonah Goldberg writes:

Beck the Muckraker
Yes, I know some of my friends on the Right wring their hands about Glenn Beck. I don't so much. Not only am I grateful for his support of my book, I like the guy personally. Moreover, while he can be bombastic and over the top rhetorically (and we don't always see eye-to-eye), what makes his populism palatable to me (I'm not a big fan of populism) is that he's fundamentally a libertarian populist. He's not clamoring for the government to do more, he's clamoring for the government to do less. And that's the safest kind of populism there is...

Glenn Beck's 9/12 Coverage
GRIF JENKINS: Is this Anti-Obama, Anti-Government... Anti-Joe Wilson?
MAN IN CROWD: It's Anti Spending
WOMAN IN CROWD: We are actually saying pro-government but in the right way - where the people rule
MAN WITH CHILD: This is about freedom. This is about freedom for me, this is about freedom for my son. This is about doing the right thing. This government is not doing the right thing.

Watch protesters chant "Glenn Beck" and "Go home, CNN" during a live report to CNN Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins. It's interesting to note that Glenn Beck started his TV career on CNN's headline News before migrating to Fox at the start of the year.

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